Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Hunter Sopko]

If you got ambushed after landing a blow, then you had the Reverse Emperor Arcana on you. Just refuse the Emperor Arcana Chance in that case if you want to avoid that issue. Past that, just swing at the enemy before getting hit to not get ambushed (so, better learn to judge your distancing). There are equips that lessen the chances of getting ambushed if you get smacked later on, but they shouldn't be necessary.

Also: yes, early SMT difficulty curve is dumb. So, I see your point.

Didn't have that. Only Arcana Chance I got so far in the game was an upright Lovers card. And I LIKE the tough enemy AI. It's just the initiative mechanic that pisses me off.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

If you got ambushed after landing a blow, then you had the Reverse Emperor Arcana on you. Just refuse the Emperor Arcana Chance in that case if you want to avoid that issue. Past that, just swing at the enemy before getting hit to not get ambushed (so, better learn to judge your distancing). There are equips that lessen the chances of getting ambushed if you get smacked later on, but they shouldn't be necessary.

Also: yes, early SMT difficulty curve is dumb. So, I see your point.

Didn't have that. Only Arcana Chance I got so far in the game was an upright Lovers card.

Odds are, then, that you swung too late. There are times when you swing, but the enemy manages to reach you first. If -that- happens, then you're prey to the initiative loss. Yeah, P4's initiative deal is a fucking bitch until you learn the distancing and timing, and even then, it's not nice. Preferred P3 in that regard, where you have essentially complete control over initiative while using the same base mechanics.

[Shale]

KH: Nearly done demolishing the game. Beat Kurt Zisa and Ice Titan, now I just have to bash my head repeatedly against Sephiroth. Current progress: I got him to kill me with Heartless Angel!

[TranceHime]

7th Dragon funtimes with the RPGDL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLooCidspV8&feature=channel_page
Party: Tal , Djinn , Soppy , Ko

I was supposed to bring Andrew to this fight but apparently I forgot. He'll be taking on Deadblack instead.

[Meeplelard]

Tales of Anti-Tropedom: So we have reached the Isolated Village of NotElves and...HOLY SHIT! They're not pompous dicks who have this "holier than thou" attitude, but are instead laid-back, lazy, and generally intrigued by something as simple as ToV character's fashion sense.

...about DAMN TIME some game strayed away from the "Prick Isolated Elves" stereotype.  The fact that a Tales game did it is shocking in and of itself!

[Hunter Sopko]

P4- Through to 6/25. Having a blast with the game. Haven't binged on a game like this... in a long time, really. About to head into the best themed dungeon ever.

[Sierra]

Plotwise not much has happened since last time, Crescendo is being stupid so we have to fart around waiting until he makes up his mind~

That pretty much sums up the second half of the game, from my recollection.

[WanderingMind]

P4 - Finished the third dungeon in one sitting on 6/25.  I lost 30 minutes because I died from having Mudo reflected back at me, but otherwise, no problems.  It's good to be back in Inaba after not playing this game for three weeks.

[superaielman]

ES- Chapter 4.

Spoilers.

Claves's death scene tried hard, it really did. But it attempted to put several hours worth of plot into one scene, leading to literally over five minutes of exposition and character work while the character died of a gutshot wound. It went from cool to lame to comically bad and that was before she randomly summoned the pidgen. You're trying to build a romance and a spy thing and way too much in too little time. The game has been oddly lacking on plot in general. Things just are, mostly. (Waltz for one). It's just damned frustrating in general.


Gameplay I really am enjoying in spite of the plot problems and the stupid with party level.  Not looking forward to a Beat/Chopin/Salsa section though.

The graveyard was damn pretty but the puzzle was definitely FAQ bait.

Question for our music students: How is George Sands portrayed in Chopin bios and the like? Wikipedia trashed her pretty badly, but Wikipedia.

[Clear Tranquil]

You should probably use Polka for healing (Earth Heal) for randoms unless you want to item spam with Salsa. Depends how good your item stock is, you might burn through it pretty fast if not. Though if you do it that way then Salsa'll pretty much be holding the forte for everything - getting turns, damage, buffing as well as having to be your healer ;p Dunno what speed boosting stuff you have but I had Salsa doubling quite a few times. Recovery Gloves are a definite win during those stages of the game too - did you remember to unequip them if you had them for the graveyard bus?

Cid - Yeah, figures.

Wanderingmind - Ah well, well I just like to buy like forty club clovers, then forty diamond clovers and so on but still have a huge ass amount of G to look at in the menu

[superaielman]

I have 40 of the MT healing item and 50 of the others. I refuse to use Polka on prinpical if it can be avoided, but we'll see.

[Clear Tranquil]

Yar, fair enough. I wonder if there is actually a point to Polka/Fred's Magic stat or if it's only there to look good?

[superaielman]

I thought healing magic ran off that?

[Twilkitri]

Shining Force 2: Finished.
Very pleasant on the whole.

MVP was either the main or Peter. Main started and finished better and was around for longer, but Peter has flight. Hm...

Player units kept pace with enemy units a lot better in this game, but after a point this really became true only if you were actively using them. Team rotation ended up becoming an exercise in frustration so I ended up just playing with the same team over and over.

Whoever wrote the Kiwi bio will be pleased to know that they successfully tricked me into using him somewhat past promotion to see if he would become passable.



PSg2: Up to the biosystems lab.
Anne broke my never having had to have anyone cloned yettedness. Tsk tsk. Haven't seen her special move yet.

I like how when you get ambushed, the team gets put in defence mode automatically for that turn (also they seem to get more charge for it than normal). More games need to be nicer like that. Of course, when you ambush the enemy they get to be on defence as well, but at least it's a free turn.

[mia~]

Star Ocean 4: It's like I'm playing an MMORPG. I wonder if this is on purpose as a meta joke about SO3.

[Taishyr]

EO2: Harpuia beaten. While she's probably Godlike (OHKO physical damage, insanely accurate Confuse, 2HKO that carries Silence/Leg Bind, definitely above average speed), in game? Blows. 800 more HP than Scylla after a lot of equip boosts and being Stab/Pierce weak -really- is a bad combo. Probably 0.75 or so PCHP before AI disrespect (which is minimal, she's really good ingame at thrashing people) makes her pure blitz, and thus not really able to champ since the speed isn't -that- good.

Other notes:

Gunner's thus far my MVP, with my Hexer close behind. Ricochet is just that badass. Hexer's Poison only stopped being an OHKO this Strata, sadly. (It now is a high 2HKO and kills anyone that's not an uber-random/FOE after someone else smacks it). War Magus has healing, Protector makes a mockery of most random fights that last more than a turn (not likely with Hexer) and the Ronin's blitz capabilites + ID makes him Gunner-light. (Pierce owning Slash for damage types is a major help there)

[NotMiki]

Star Ocean 4: It's like I'm playing an MMORPG. I wonder if this is on purpose as a meta joke about SO3.

wasn't SO3 enough of a meta joke about itself?

[Pyro]

I would say SO4 is more of a joke, period.

Except it cost me money so it isn't funny. Screw that.

[Tonfa]

The Last Remnant:

Right. Pretty much the only things I knew about this game going in were someone's opinion that the game was FF12 done right, with Rush working in his role a lot better then Vaan, and a bit of battle gameplay I saw at a friend's. Looked cool enough, so why not? Now let's do this-

*freezes after "New Game"*

Okay let's change some settings-

*freezes after the first cutscene*
*repeat x10, trying advice on the internet, none of it works*

*three hours later*

Well then. Had to update video card drivers to get it to work. (PC GAMING) Game begins with the protagonist Rush on a flower field angsting about his kidnapped sister Irina. He happens to notice a battle starting between two armies in a valley below him. One of the sides is led by Shuyin with a DBZ scouter, accompanied by his furry general. Somehow I'm rooting for the other side already. Rush looks on and sees a female soldier that a) looks nothing like Irina b) Irina has probably never held a sword n her life anyway as a flashback slightly later on tells us, so naturally he shouts "Irina!!!!" and jumps and runs to down to her. Of course. A plot battle with some grunts later, Shuyin unleashes the power of Vegnagun Gae Bolg, a bigass portable laser cannon. Rush and not!Irina fall down into a crater made by the blast that connects to a cave.

When Rush finally wakes up, he goes "What happened?" to which not!Irina answers "Gae Bolg fired and we fell down into this cave. Any other stupid obvious questions?". Rush immediately, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, replies "Cave?"

...

Advantage: Vaan.

[Pyro]

Tonfa:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

You were lied to, my friend. You also forgot to mention that Emma is like 40 something.

At least Eph and I won't be the only ones in the DL who suffered through some portion of that sack-of-crap game.

Crisis Core:

Continues to be good stuff. Missions are addictive, if not terribly fun in and of themselves. Zack is working as an incredibly likable main character.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Tales of Anti-Tropedom: So we have reached the Isolated Village of NotElves and...HOLY SHIT! They're not pompous dicks who have this "holier than thou" attitude, but are instead laid-back, lazy, and generally intrigued by something as simple as ToV character's fashion sense.

...about DAMN TIME some game strayed away from the "Prick Isolated Elves" stereotype.  The fact that a Tales game did it is shocking in and of itself!

Star Ocean 4? I mean, they're more like Anime Vulcans than RPG Elves, but the same principles apply for both.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

VP2 - Why am I replaying this again? Oh right, redoing the Seraphic Gate. Anyhow, C3, game is even more pathetically easy than I remember.

[Talaysen]

EO2: Harpuia beaten. While she's probably Godlike (OHKO physical damage, insanely accurate Confuse, 2HKO that carries Silence/Leg Bind, definitely above average speed), in game? Blows. 800 more HP than Scylla after a lot of equip boosts and being Stab/Pierce weak -really- is a bad combo. Probably 0.75 or so PCHP before AI disrespect (which is minimal, she's really good ingame at thrashing people) makes her pure blitz, and thus not really able to champ since the speed isn't -that- good.

Harpuxia's all about the evade whoring, in theory.  99 AGI's pretty high, but maxed skills still won't miss anyways so it fails in practice.

[Taishyr]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Captain K.]

And she resists everything that's not Pierce so theoretically with the wrong party she could be hard.

VPDS:  Chapter 3.  Game is still good.  Following guide to get all plume skills in 3 playthroughs, since I have so many games to play that I don't want to spend time experimenting on my own.

Platinum:  Quite a few changes, although none are particularly important.  Game is actually easier, if you can believe that.  Like they took out the Abras with Hidden Power that you used to fight in Jubilife.  Sailor Mars's Purugly is still competent though.

PWI:  Level 49 BM, level 41 Cleric.